Ottawa Insider

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new climate plan proposes growing the carbon price and injecting $15 billion worth of initiatives into the economy. His government is hoping these efforts will result in steeper cuts to Canada’s carbon pollution that go beyond current measures.

The environment and climate change minister's remarks come after former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon urged Canada to “demonstrate greater leadership in the collective effort to tackle climate change.”

Many Canadians have been left stunned or in tears after being told by the Canada Revenue Agency that they might need to pay back all the money they got from the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).

The Dec. 8 report by Yves Giroux concludes that the government’s decision in 2018 to purchase and run the pipeline remains a profitable move only if Ottawa doesn’t take further steps to combat climate change, and if the planet maintains its unquenchable thirst for oil.

Ken Hardie, who represents the British Columbia riding of Fleetwood-Port Kells, raised several questions during a parliamentary committee meeting about the assessments studied by the department to arrive at its conclusion that open-net pen fish farms pose little risk to wild salmon.

Denmark, the largest oil producer in the European Union, has committed to ending fossil fuel extraction and ensuring the continued employment of its affected workers.

What is already known is stunning: the average cost per weather-related disaster has soared by 1,250 per cent since the 1970s, and the number of catastrophic events has more than tripled since the 1980s.

Instead, governments around the world, including Canada, expect to go in the opposite direction — producing more coal, oil or natural gas, which will result in more than double what is consistent with the Paris Agreement.

Ecosystem restoration, green bonds and energy retrofits are all part of the federal economic update.

The Department of National Defence has released its Defence Energy and Environment Strategy for the 2020-23 period and expects to cut its pollution by 265 kilotonnes by 2030.

One oilpatch CEO argues any government investment in capturing carbon dioxide is misguided because it ignores another greenhouse gas, methane, that is a more potent atmospheric heat-trapper over a shorter period and has been proven to be a bigger problem for the industry than previously thought.

The president of the Canadian Labour Congress says setting climate targets will have to go hand-in-hand with developing a strategy around protecting workers.

Marine refuges are still counted toward Canada's conservation target, up until the point at which oil drilling begins. That turns them into "ever-receding jigsaw puzzles," says Ecology Action Centre.

“What we’re trying to do is create a set of accountability norms that will put an exceptionally high degree of pressure on both the present and future federal administrations,” says Liberal parliamentary secretary Will Amos.

Environmental questions remain about using large amounts of fossil fuels to produce hydrogen gas, even if it does lead to lower transport emissions.